Vote for a woman campaign has an effect, one in three Councillors is female

SINT MAARTEN/THE NETHERLANDS – A campaign to encourage people to vote for women during last week’s local elections appears to have had an effect, according to research published by Trouw on Thursday.

The paper says that in the 70 local authority areas it has studied, at least 75 women got a seat on the council by virtue of preference votes. In Amsterdam and Heerhugowaard women now account for half of the council make-up while in Heerenveen women are in the majority.

Four years ago, 28% of local councillors were female but that has now risen to 34%, Trouw said. Supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party D66, the Socialist Party and GroenLinks were most likely to vote for a woman.

An analysis of the candidate lists by broadcaster NOS ahead of the elections showed just three in 10 candidates were female. (DutchNews)